Whitehouse at White House (Conference on Aging regional event) help April 27, 2015 in Cleveland

As an AARP visiting scholar, White House Conference on Aging groupie and fan of global health innovation (event held at Global Center for Health Innovation), let me thank all that made this program possible. I’ll explain this image later in my talk but for the moment just think about the young and the old together in community and being out in nature. Our topic health and wellness is a big umbrella that in my opinion includes other critical WHCOA issues like justice, housing, and security. The first WHCOA issue brief was prepared on Health and Wellness, and I want to read the first paragraph because I think it sets the tone for this session and perhaps the rest of the day.

Older Americans are calling for a shift in the way we think and talk about aging. Rather than focusing on the limitations of aging, older adults across the nation want to focus instead on the opportunities of aging. Older adults are seeking ways to maximize their physical, mental, and social well-being to remain independent and active as they age. Shout out to Senior Voices grassroots effort at Old Stone Church.

Yes the report goes on to talk about the importance of diet, exercise, lifestyle, but also the critical importance of having a purposeful life in community. Elders have the talents, wisdom and courage to bring to the larger society to help address the huge challenges we face as citizens and human beings including income inequity, the influence of money over democracy, global climate change and the plight of our children. Civic engagement and spirited citizenship are key to individual and community health and wellness.

We need new powerful stories of health; elders can be leaders in creating them. Yet there is an elephant in the room addressed in the issue paper that illustrates our challenges to creating new narratives. It is Alzheimer’s. This is a word that wreaks havoc in our culture but the powerful story that is being told today is misguided. Experts now believe that Alzheimer’s is not one condition and is intimately related to brain aging. Yet we are being led to believe that more money will lead to a cure and with it the salvation of our healthcare system. In my view we need a much broader approach including a public health perspective, not just a molecular and pharmaceutical approach. It is time for a focus on health and wellness, not medicine and disease.

As I end my brief talk, let me offer you an illustrative story about The Intergenerational Schools here in in Cleveland Ohio. The first of these three high performing public schools is now 15 years old. Children, adults and elders learn together as lifelong learners and spirited citizens. We partner locally with many other organizations like Judson Smart Living and globally through Intergenerational Schools International Today we have a leadership delegation from India. We currently working with Metrohealth to develop school-based health care programs and with Fairhill Partners in chronic disease self-management. Aging starts a birth (or before); it’s a lifelong activity. In fact two of the AARP’s newest programs Life Reimagined and Livable communities refer to life, not to aging directly.

This picture is full of life. The photo is of students of all ages from The Intergenerational School at our Nature Center at Shaker Lakes celebrating learning in nature and also winning the EPA Rachel Carson’s sense of wonder multimedia contest in the dance category. In a related project our children interviewed elders, some of whom had significant memory problems, but could still share about how in the 1960s they saved this very same nature center from a corrupt politician planning to put a highway through it. This is passing activism across the generations.

This is a picture of health – learning and exercising together and demonstrating civic engagement and spirited citizenship is service of a sustainable future for all ages and for life on the planet.

Now on to another WHCOA event in association with the National Endowment of the Arts and the National Center for Creative Aging in Washington next week

Peter J. Whitehouse, MD, PhD is Professor of Neurology and former Professor of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Psychology, Nursing, Organizational Behavior, Cognitive Science, Bioethics and History. He is an intergenerative, narrative-focused evolutionary physician and health coach. His main passion is developing innovative learning environments (such as The Intergenerational School) to promote collective wisdom and contribute to individual, community, and planetary health.